Oh, and Tiago, with regards to living in England, probably one thing to do would be to decide what sort of work you are looking for and then decide where to live, as some areas specialise in certain careers more than others. For example, if hospitality is your bag, a major centre with a big student population such as Leeds, Glasgow, Manchester, Bristol or Birmingham might be suitable. Media jobs tend to be London-based, or in Edinburgh, Cardiff, Belfast, Dublin. If you are after a quieter time, taking advantage of the beautiful UK countryside might be better - the Cotswolds, Norfolk, Shropshire, Yorkshire and Derbyshire all offer stunning outdoor scenery and friendly smaller towns and villages, if that sounds tempting.
Classic city life can probably be found at a similar standard and cost in all the major cities - Ireland can be more expensive though. I would get an LP, read up on the country, pick a few locations to visit and take a few weeks traveling round and deciding what you like the most. Travel is, theoretically, cheap and easy, especially if you use buses and coaches like the National Express. Brighton sounds like a good choice above - seaside, close to London and full of interesting bars, shops and things to do. Spent 5 years in Edinburgh and now live in Bristol, although posting from India, and can highly recommend both - great music, surrounding countryside, places to eat, friendly people to hang out with, plenty of job opportunities and close to other interesting cities and both are a few hours from the sea. Good luck!
Beck
Read above, Cognomen. While you were airing your incredibly valid and enlightened response, I was thinking of helpful advice for a move to England. It takes time to be nice. Glad you found the time to travel to everywhere in England and can now rule out the entire country as a travel and work destination.
Beck
I'm not pissed off with the UK qwba, I just don't consider it a good place to live and work as I said. What's hard to understand about that. If I made up a list of my top 10 countries to live and work in, it wouldn't make the list.
Beck, blow it out your ear. I have lived in the UK (7 years) and travelled it extensively. Besides the crap weather it is the culture I fiind not worth putting up with. The UK is the only country I know of where lying in the street drunk is a national passtime. Where 25% of people lived in subsidized housing and consider it normal. Where generations of people are happy to live on welfare and where schools have to pay danger pay. Where practically every industry has failed due to a lack of ability to realize that doing the same only produces more of the same. Where a father would encourage a son to get a job in a Glasgow shipyard when it is obvious to anyone with half a brain that the shipyards are a dead industry. I could go on and on.
The UK is a nation of poor people who think they are middle class, living on past glories ad nauseum on their 'tellys'. It has been going slowly downhill since ww2 and the pace is accelerating. It is a country where over 50% of the people said they would move to another country to retire if they could. The rats are leaving the sinking ship.
Cognomen that is a huge pile of ignorant, prejudiced and exagerated crap, and it shows how little you understand the country you lived in for seven years. Yes, we have our problems, but what country doesn't? You obviously had an unpleasant time here and while I'm sorry about that, I am tempted to suggest it was less because of what's wrong with England and more to do with what's wrong with you. In my experience bitter, miserable people will have a bitter, miserable time wherever they are.
The point really is that the OP didn't ask for advice about whether to move to England. He/she has already decided to come and just wants to know where to live. Your rant about how much you hate the whole country is neither relevant nor helpful and just makes the OP nervous about moving here.
I don't care how established a member of this forum you are... it's never necessary to be so rude and aggressive about someone else's home.
Tiago - I would recommend having a think about whether you're after a busy, exciting, expensive big city, or a small town in the countryside (where it might be cheaper, and easier to make friends, but could be harder to find a job). Then buy a big pile of guide books and read up so you get a good idea of the characters of the different counties and the places in them.
Then come back to us with what you're thinking and ask some more questions!
kitamaiyu, first I would like to hear just exactly what I wrote that was ignorant, prejudiced or exaggerated. Second, I did not have an unpleasant time. I had quite a good time but only because I was able to ignore the downsides of the country. Third, England is not the UK, it is simply a part of the UK. I referred to the UK as a whole. The assumption that England is the UK is an assumption by the English that many Welsh and Scots find extremely annoying. Fourth, the UK is not 'someone else's home', it is the country I was born in and thank God, left. The 7 years I referred to was simply a long visit. That means that I can say what I please about the UK. Fifth, the OP did not ask for advice nor did I offer any on whether to move to England or not. The OP asked where best met his criteria. I answered that question with, nowhere. Finally, I am neither bitter nor miserable. I just tend to call a spade a spade. I do find however that whenever someone doesn't like a comment they tend to decide the person who made the comment is negative, bitter, miserable, etc. rather than simply telling it like it is.
Now, tell me, how many countries other than the UK (England is not a country) have you lived in that might qualify you to have an opinion on how it compares? "Yes, we have our problems, but what country doesn't?" You obviously have no idea just how badly the UK compares in so many ways to so many other countries.
I said England because the OP asked about England, therefore this thread is ABOUT England. I apologise if I hadn't noticed that you were in fact slating the whole of the UK. I am of course, as a Brit, perfectly aware that England is not the same as the UK, and it is ridiculously patronising of you to assume that I'm not.
And yes, I have lived in a number of countries (across the UK, in Europe, and further afield) and they all have their upsides and their downsides. There are many things I have preferred abroad, and there are many things I have found to be better here. I think you can find things to love anywhere if you go with an open heart and mind and try to actually understand the people and their history - the point of travel is surely to learn why different cultures are the way they are, not to slate everything that's different to how you would do it.
The point is still that the OP did not ask whether to move to England, he/she is ALREADY coming. Therefore ranting on about how it's the most hideous country in the world is pointless.
And no, I'm not going to get into trying to correct each of your ridiculous criticisisms. You clearly aren't open to learning anything so it would be a pointless exercise.
And you will notice it's not just me commenting that you sound bitter. So it's nothing to do with me personally not liking what you have to say - you just sound bitter!
"I'm not going to get into trying to correct each of your ridiculous criticisisms." LOL Then what exactly do you think you are writing about. Never mind, I'll correct your ridiculous criticisms anyway.
1. You weren't writing about 'this thread', you were writing about my comments.
2. Patronising in the sense that you mean it, refers to treating somebody as if he or she were less intelligent or knowledgeable than yourself. Your right I was being patronising. What else could I be? You are wrong however in your assumption that I thought you didn't know the difference between England and the UK. What I took exception to was your writing AS IF there was no difference.
3. I'd like to hear about the things you have found to be better in the UK.
4. I do travel with an open heart and mind and did find things to love in the UK not the least of which is my wife. Where exactly did you read in my comments that I don't travel that way?
5. Where did you read that I was slating what is 'different'. I can agree that not everything that is different is bad. However, I cannot agree that anything bad is just different. A preponderance of drunks in the streets on a Friday night is not just different, it's simply not a good thing.
6. I did not say England is the most hideous country in the world. It isn't even a country come to that. I simply said it didn't fit the criteria the OP gave, in my opinion. You are the one who has decided my opinion translates to calling England hideous.
7. I am very open to learning and always have been. I also don't go around with blinders on and unable to see my own country as it truly is. It doesn't appear you can say the same.
8. You're right there is another poster who thinks they can 'hear' how the written words sound. Try this exercise kitamaiyu. Say the sentence, 'I have no reason to dislike you', with a smile on your face and in a pleasant tone. Now try saying the same sentence with your teeth gritted. You can't 'hear' tone in written words alone. You need sound to hear them.
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